Field
The present disclosure relates generally to data processing. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to the detecting malicious network content on portable data storage devices and remote network servers.
Related Art
Governments, the military, corporations, financial institutions, hospitals, and private businesses amass a great amount of confidential information about their employees, customers, products, research, and their financial status. Furthermore, government information systems may include classified information related to national security, command and control of military forces, or fulfillment of intelligence missions. Protecting confidential information from theft and corruption while allowing the information to remain accessible and productive to its intended users has been one of the major goals of computer security. However, as computer security becomes savvier to malicious attacks via e-mail and other avenues, cybercriminals are turning to portable data storage devices for malware distribution. Portable data storage devices, such as Universal Serial Bus (USB) flash drives, are small, readily available, and inexpensive, thereby making them popular for storing and transporting files from one computer to another. However, these same characteristics make them appealing to attackers.
According to some research, a quarter of all of malware today is developed to be disseminated through USB devices. One reason for the popularity of USB devices is the simplicity with which malware can be distributed. Most hackers do not wish to spend hours and hours trying to hack secured computers. Spreading malware through USB devices is a simple way to distribute malware with just a few clicks. An attacker might infect a computer with malware that can detect when a USB drive is plugged into a computer. The malware may then download malicious code onto the drive. When the USB drive is plugged into another computer, the malware infects that computer.
There are solutions on the market for addressing the threat with varying degree of success. Some of these solutions aim at preventing USB drives from being recognized by computers. Other solutions require disabling AutoRun functionality or maintaining a dedicated computer for USB related activities. Some even advocate moving away from USB drives to cloud-based solutions. Most of these solutions require limiting accessibility of the information contained on the USB drives instead of addressing the threat directly.
The network file sharing technology is another solution for data transmission between computers. Lately, this technology has become a popular tool for sharing data over the Internet and/or local area networks. However, malware is often spread through remote network servers, making file sharing services one of the most frequent ways of virus infections and computer failures. Remote network servers may contain malware software which can be downloaded while downloading other files requested by users. Current anti-virus technology may be inefficient in detecting these malicious files as they may not become active until after the download is complete or until the requested files are run. Thus, it is desirable to detect malware on the remote network servers before any files are downloaded.